RIM COO Leaving The Company

AP
Research In Motion's COO Don Morrison is leaving the company for medical reasons, the WSJ reports.

He is expected to return in the fall.

Last week we heard from a source that Morrison was going to be leaving the company, but not for medical reasons.

Our source suggested that Morrison, who has been at the company for a decade was just ready to move on to the next thing in life.

(It's possible our source was misreading the situation and Morrison really is leaving for medical reasons.)

Morrison's departure is "not a big deal" according to our source. It will be played up as RIM being in turmoil, but it's not. The real problem for RIM is that it doesn't have a deep executive bench to replace Morrison. The company's executive ranks are thin.

That's why RIM, despite having two other COOs on staff, is bringing in Larry Conlee, a former RIM exec, to fill in as a special advisor.